Untitled Sermon (31)

Northside Church

July 16, 2023

Woodburn CC

Good morning,

My name is Jamey Mills, I am the lead pastor at Northside Christian Church in Albany, Oregon…

Appreciate you all for allowing me to come and share with you…

I want to start by saying thank you. WCC was one of our first and major supporting Churches… and I really want you to know that God has used you… in meaningful ways… in all that you’re going to hear today and I am… we at Northside are so thankful.

I was born and raised in Redmond Or… life was good but hard. My parents struggled… we struggled financially…

I wouldn’t say I was raised in the Church… My parents would send us on Sunday… it seemed like free child care…

My sister really struggled in HS… and I was beginning to make some pretty poor choices too.

On August 24 of 1993, I’d just graduated from HS and decided to go and say goodbye to my friends at a church camp in Springfield that my parents had sent me to over the years…

It was there that two friends convinced me to drop everything and head to bible college at Puget Sound in Edmonds WA. I wasn’t a believer… but I went home and told my parents I was moving to Seattle in two weeks…

I didn't apply… I never took my SAT… They let me start on academic probation… and that first year… I absolutely hated it. I felt alone… it felt like everything that I had made myself to be, had to be undone. I left that year telling them I wouldn’t be back. I moved back home… took the job I’d had since I was 14… worked the summer, but when fall came I had this overwhelming sense of unfinished business. So, I told my boss i was going back to school… and I will never forget this… he grabbed me by the shoulder and said… if that school can do for my daughter what it’d done for you… would you take her.

That was the first time I began to believe that God was at work in my life.

I ended up doing fairly well in college…

I met my wife

Much to everyone’s surprise I graduated. I took a job at Dayton christian Church… as the youth pastor… I loved it. It went really well. The youth group grew. But the time came and for reasons we didn't understand we felt God moving us.

We applied at Suburban Christian… and even though I dated his daughter in HS… Steve Lee hired us… we spent 20 years there… and they were amazing.

We adopted both of our kids there…

Cory

Kylee

So many wonderful people… friends… God blessed the ministry… we started with 4 kids and 4 youth leaders and 11 years later we had about 150 kids and about 40 volunteers.

About this same time I took (10 years ago or so)I'd taken an online church planting assessment and scored in the 98th percentile. But… fundraising scared me off.

SCC asked me to take on a leadership role… so I stepped out of youth and became the discipleship pastor… part of the ex team.

We felt God calling us to a larger leadership role… Steve would be retiring before long and thought for sure that meant taking over at Suburban… but God did not lead the elders in that direction… and that was really hard. We didn't understand.

I began applying in California, Washington, and Oregon… we had a few highly interested churches… but it never felt right. We began feeling like God was asking us to stay and help the new guy at SCC get his feet on the ground, so we did. I told them we’d stay for 2 years.

About a year and a half in the elders called me in… asked what was next… I had no idea but remembered the church plant assessment… and by the end of the meeting the idea was officially moving forward…

They sent us to the official assessment with Stadia in Indianapolis… it was intense and tough… and we faced a ton of spiritual warfare with our kids and extended family…. My son got in trouble and my mom who was supposed to start watching our kids the next day fell… we almost didn't go. But we made it… and passed with high recommendations…

Suburban put out three other major markers… like fleece as a way of seeing if God was in it…

Three huge obstacles they saw like us putting out fleece to see if God was behind it.

I had to raise 100K in two weeks. It happened in two days. You all were a part of that.

I had to find about 50 people to go with us from inside and outside Suburban… the community was growing…

Had that early early on

I had to have a locational plan

It was a miracle… no real place in NA… one day on the way to the office at Suburban the OLD Elemebntary school was torn down… overnight… I called the district… They were building a brand new school. No Joke… it was on our exact timeline, in fact… NS was one of the first to use it. And the school was very receptive… in fact to this day our relationship with the school has been incredibly healthy and productive.

About this time is when the staff came together.

Matt…

Hannah

Jim

Beth

Our worship pastor I’ve known sincere was in MS. Amazing leader… talented worship leader… His parents planted a church, and he’d begun to sense that God was leading them elsewhere… it was hard… but I think everyone sees what God was doing.

Our kids director was in our small group… never did it before but you could tell she has “it” and shes done fantastic.

Our youth guy was one of my youth volunteers at Suburban… can teach and is lots of fun.

Our admin early on was a brilliant young lady we knew from Suburban… they had another kid so she needed to step back.

Our current admin was a good friend from Suburban and he's really doing a good job.

Our first service was Feb 9 2020

So much anticipation… and it was fantastic. We had 180 people there… many for a 1 time show of support, but it was incredible. We were landing around 120 ish…

When 5 weeks later… March 15th… Covid shut us down.

I honestly thought it was done.

I remember sitting around the table with our very young staff… I told them what was happening… and there was this incredible determination in their eye…

We began online services that week and that went on for a long time…

Then… the George Flloyd riots started… one march went right in front of our office.

Then the horrible fires that turned our skies black

Hopelessness was so heavy… that Sunday at the end of our recorded service… I told them I know we aren’t supposed to gather, but we need to pray. I told them right now… I am at the park waiting for you… if you feel comfortable, come and pray…

The time came… and I think 95% of our people started showing up with literally no notice…. I couldn't believe it… it was so powerful. It started to rain as we sang the song I will praise you in the storm…

We ended up being one of the only churches in town that did a Christmas Eve service that year… it was outside… in freezing cold temps… but it was packed.

The church grew… and we weren’t paying rent

And then we began meeting outside at another church in town…

And this is one of my favorite pictures of that time… that’s my wife… on her knees… praying for this church.

We also had our first baptism service outdoors… this is NS very first baptism. Carson’s dad baptized him. Remember this…

Then they let us move inside but there were all kinds of restrictions

Then outside

Then outside at the school..

We had to move 10 times, which is horrible…

But then, not even two years ago… we finally got back into the school, and things took off.

We had our second birthday… and had to move services into the gym because they didn’t fit in the cafeteria.

We were breaking attendance records nearly every week.

Christmas eve 2022

About 1.5 years ago I realized that financially, things were looking great… and Covid, we realized the need for a place to meet that we could count on… which in NA means building. So we put together a Land acquisition team… they found something…

We asked the church to pray… and started a capital campaign. The hope was to raise 200K for a downpayment… instead… The church committed over 600k and more than that came in.

During that time we had our largest gathering in NS history… just over 500 at Easter.

(Pictures)

We also celebrated our third birthday… where we had more baptisms… about 40 to date. But also the day Northside went from having a management team to having an elder board. A huge step… in light of all we’d been through. (Pictures)

That day… We also celebrated that there was a deal in place on the 20 acres…

Just barely a couple months ago… Northside celebrated the closing on those 20 acres. We are land owners.

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And one major prayer request would be the task in front of us…

To develop the land and build which will be multiple millions of dollars. We are going to need a lot of help… to build a church in a needed location that will serve as an outpost for God’s Kingdom… and what He’s doing in our area.

I could tell you stories of marriages that are healing…

Of people who came to know the Lord

Of alcoholics that are dry

Of families that are now church goes

Of a meth addict who is now a baptized believer in Jesus

This is all I can tell you… 4 years ago Northside was an idea that you helped make a reality.

And what we experience today is SO MUCH more than I even knew how to pray for back then. I want to be incredibly clear… God is the one… He gets all the credit… and all the glory…

His goodness is overwhelming… and your faithfulness… plays a part in His expression of goodness and kindness to us… and I know many others.

I’ve never played this role before… and sometimes it feels like I have no idea what I’m doing. It’s been absolutely unbelievable. I love what I get to do…and the team I get to do it with.

It has also been… incredibly hard.

Planting a church in the face of a global pandemic… lets just say is less than ideal.

It was hard on churches… on families… on church leadership… on church staff… and on pastors.

It reminds me so much of this passage…

Take up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ…

For years, I struggled with that passage. I mean… really struggled.

What could possibly be lacking in the perfect sacrifice of Christ… what did he leave undone…

And then one day… I felt like God kind of opened my eyes to it and showed me even in my own life what it was about.

By His design… Ministry… serving… reaching out… will cost you something.

Time… money… comfort… sacrifice… vulnerability… and sometimes even pain.

In fact, I’ve never really seen it go any other way. When we get serious about the reality of Jesus… and what is really on the line… to the point of sharing the eternal truth… that sounds like foolishness to those who are perishing… there will be a sacrifice… it's supposed to cost us something.

Right now I’m sure you're aware of all the stuff going on in the world… I wouldn’t imagine it's any different here in Woodburn… but the truth of Jesus is needed as much now as it’s ever been… HOPE… TRUTH… OUR IDENTITY in JESUS… THE FULLNESS and FREEDOM that HE came to bring.

And that is what Northside is all about. That is what we strive to do.

Jesus himself said…

John 10:10 (NIV)

John 10:10 NLT

The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

We say it like this… We want every single person to come to this place of knowing Jesus and experiencing the fullness and freedom He’s desired for us all along.

Full of those things that are life giving…

Fruit of spirit

One of the things that led me to Jesus was this… those things that He wants to do in my life… deep down… is who I really want to be. I get in the way all the time… but I want to be loving… I want to be kind… I want to be selfless

And free from those things that are life taking…

Our freedom in Christ I don't think means… doing whatever we want whenever we want… in fact, one of the major messages of the Bible is… dying to yourself.

Do you think it’s a coincidence that those things that God says are truly destructive, sin, and actually bring isolation into our life. things like dishonesty, greed, hate, disobeying God, gossip, lust, addiction…

Full of life giving things…

Free of things that would rob us of that life and hold us captive

That is what sin does. It robs us… confuses us… destroys the image of Christ in us and that is a message this generation desperately needs to hear.

Conc.

So… that is the Northside story. That is what God has done and is continuing to do.

That is what you have invested in… and… to be honest… I hope we have made you proud. We could not have done it without you and I hope the partnership between our churches is not done. I have no idea what that might look like down the line… but He does. Planting a church? Missions? Outreach? Discipleship… I don’t know.

But I do know this… there are things we can do together that we could never do apart.

That also is by God’s design.

The world will know we are His… when we love each other… walk with each other… serve together… There is a ministry that is found in that kind of unity that preaches the Gospel in its own way… and that unity in a lot of ways is lacking in today's church.

We pray for you…

During our services every week we pray for one church in our area or one of our supporting churches… and even though your financial commitment has been fulfilled and ended… we continue to pray for you all.

We are so thankful for you. For your faithfulness.

God is using you… to make a difference. Here… in North Albany… and in other places too.

My heart is… don’t stop.

Please don’t stop. WCC has been a source of encouragement… a great example of a giving church… a great example of what it means to invest in God’s kingdom beyond the four walls of its own church body…

Northside is young. We are watching… We are taking notes.

You’ve led us well. We are thankful.